


Across The Seven Seas

by MONANIK



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Angst and Tragedy, BAMF Kageyama Tobio, Character Death, Folklore, Historical Accuracy, History Typical Violence, Hurt Hinata Shouyou, I studied a lot for this fic, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Mermaids and Sea Creatures to come, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Hinata Shouyou, Pirate Kageyama, Real slow, Sailing, Slow Burn, Some Humor, This will become a long fic this summer, i sort of know what im doing, well semi accuracy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:35:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22994044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MONANIK/pseuds/MONANIK
Summary: Shoyou, a man who'd lost everything to the wrath of the waves, decides to forget his life on land and join the pirates at sea.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 29
Kudos: 63





	Across The Seven Seas

**Author's Note:**

> Take this attempt at remaining historically and factually accurate all the while mixing different cultures and periods. Everything won't be 100% accurate, as it isn't supposed to be either, but I try to remain as true to the original stories of the wakou (japanese pirates) as possible. 
> 
> Furthermore, before you read, be aware that this is a pirate story. It's not gonna be pretty, or a smooth ride. There'll be blood, gore, torture, injustice, swearing and general nastiness. Pirates weren't exactly known for their prep and poise, nor were they particularly herioc or honorable. 
> 
> That means that this if the first and only trigger warning you'll get, since trigger warning every single little thing will end up taking longer than writing the actual story. I might add a short warning for the extra graphic bits, but be aware that this is /not/ a soft story. This /will/ be brutal and gory and horrible, so if you're not into that know that you've been warned. Needless to say, it won't all be gore and torture. This is a story of adventure first and foremost, and the dark themes within it do not speak for its ending nor its beginning. 
> 
> Enjoy this wild ride and I hope to see you again this summer for this one way ticket adventure into the unknown!

  
  


Beneath the blistering sun of midday at sea, Shoyou sat tied to one of the thick, wooden masts of Iris. He’d been sitting just like that, back to back with one of the equally as disobedient men of the crew--who’d apparently stolen a piece of ham from the kitchen-- for the better part of the day.

The skin on Shoyou’s shoulders had turned a ruddy color, and if he could still feel it he would bet it would sting like all seven hells. Luckily for him, his upper body had numbed long ago. If he craned his neck to look at one of his shoulders, he could see tiny blisters forming on the abused surface of the organ.

The sight made him want to puke, which he’d already done twice. All over his own legs, may he add, which didn’t help his situation it all. All it did was earn him another three hours of sitting time.

  
  


So far, Shoyou’s attempt at conquering the ocean hadn’t been a success, really. This hadn’t been how he’d envision his enrollment with pirates to go.

  
  


He’d heard plenty of stories of pirates throughout his lifetime. Especially since he lived merely a mile off the coast and harbor. Since his home was lost, Shoyou had spent all his hours at the harbor, where he’d eavesdropped on conversations between sailors and merchants and even some of the finer ladies of the district.

“ _Those shit are everywhere_ ,” they’d grumble between pints of beer, “ _Those leeches. Takin’ and takin’ like the barbarians they are. Have they got no sense of pride?_ ”

He learnt, with the help from some of the friend’s he’d made working at the harbor, namely Izumi, that pirates weren’t exactly admired by the majority. They were nasty, leeching criminals that roamed the ocean and stole whatever they deemed valuable to steel. No ships left the vicinity of a pirate fleet without either losing lives or stock, or both—were you unlucky enough.

Namely they were famous for their brutality, and the senseless ways in which they punished those they deemed their prisoners. Occasionally, Shoyou had heard from some of the ladies that had been aboard the ships which survived the pirates they’d encountered, that they would take the women hostage, and do unspeakable things to them in the confides of their cabins, or sometimes even right out on deck for everyone to see.

Shoyou had shivered at such stories. Of all the tales of unexplainable horrors he’d heard from the sailors, those retellings of innocent women being stripped of their dignity and pride beneath the midday sun, were the worst. He’d hoped that once he became a pirate, and had his own fleet, that he could, perhaps, prevent such horrific crimes to be committed. If nothing else, then at least aboard his ships.

  
  


Instead he sat now tied to the mast, frying slowly in the scorching sun. Another hour and he’d start smelling like someone’s dinner left out on deck.

As he sat there, moping in his agony—squirming against the rough ropes—shouting suddenly bombarded his ears. The entire crew aboard started panicking; running around, preparing ammunition and canons and dressing themselves in fitting protective wear.

Shoyou looked up and turned as much as he could to get a better view of the commotion. The movement scraped his tender shoulders against the wooden mast, and he was starkly reminded of the threat the sunburn posed to his health.

Ignoring his condition, he craned his neck to see, but found to his frustration that the horizon line lay just out of view from where Shoyou was sitting. With all his might ha rose on shaky legs, shoulders dragging against the rough wood. He bit his lip so that he wouldn’t scream in agony, and the taste of copper that followed meant he’d pierced through his dry lower lip.

Standing, he could finally see over the edge of the boat and saw in the not so far distance the hulk of a massive ship. Behind it a fleet of hundreds of ships, equally as large, came closer and closer by the minute. A glimmer of metal lining each ship’s bulwarks taunted them, a subtle threat, a thousand canons ready to fire.

The closest ship, massive and black, had come close enough that Shoyou could just barely make out the name written on its side in large, bold lettering.

_Black Crow._

A mighty shiver wracked his body in an instant, and the sun-bleached deck--seconds ago doused in sunrays--lay now in spectacular shadows as the bulk of the four-story ship blocked the view of the horizon line in the distance.

Everyone and their mother knew of the _Black Crow._ It was one of its kind. The largest pirate ship ever seen. By some considered a mere myth, by others a folktale, and by a handful of traumatized sailors a symbol of doom.

All men aboard Iris stopped their milling and silenced at once. From the Black Crow, a ladder was released. Its end fell onto the deck of Iris, and from the top of it a dark clad figure jumped down onto their ship, hand gently caressing the rope of the ladder.

Shoyou knew who he was before he’d even turned. Just like how everyone knew the Black Crow, they also had to know of her captain.

 _The_ _Black_ _King_ , they called him. Flightless crow of the seven seas. An unparalleled contender. A master of torture.

A fearless pirate.

Shoyou squirmed against the mast until he stood on the other side of it, thankful for the release of the strain on his neck.

The King walked forward; his face dipped in the shadow of the fabric draped over his head. A single blue eye glinted at them. He stood stock still before the crew of Iris.

  
  


The captain had nothing on this man.

  
  


This man was terror personified. He needn’t no burly beard, or stocky frame, or scary scar to instill mortification in whoever dared look him in the eye. No, Shoyou thought as he watched him take off his hood, nothing on this man was scary on its own.

If Shoyou dared say, he was perhaps even handsome. But, see, it was his beauty that was truly frightening. Despite the years of tales on his back, the Black King had not a single patch of skin not evened with the rest. It was a sun-kissed color, gently dipped in warm caramel, and as even as if it’d been a blessing from above rather than a reaction to his surroundings. His face, free of imperfections save for a scar over one temple, spoke of his impressive youth. It only meant he’d manage to conquer and win and rule at an unfathomably young age.

His eyes, fierce and slanted, were a coral blue rivaling the demonic waves of the ocean. The same waves that had taken his everything away from Shoyou. Just glancing into his eyes was enough to have his head spiraling down dark paths. Thoughts of blue hues in slamming, fizzling waves filled his head until he could only barely contain himself from whimpering.

And then, the rest of him. A presence of doom, the carry of death himself. Tall and lean and clad in darks and black with his broad shoulders and long, bony fingers—the Black King was nothing short of the incarnation of Pandora’s box.

The sway in his walk, fluid and as quiet as a whisper, made his shadow dance across the wooden boards of the ship. With every _creak, creak, creak_ of gentle footsteps in the silence his shadow waved to the rhythm of his hips, imitating the way a king’s silken cape would flutter in the wind.

How Shoyou envied his poise, his unbreakable image of steel, he thought as the Black King came close enough for him to gaze right up into a pair of slanted snake’s eyes.

He hadn’t realized he’d been staring, and silently cursed himself for doing so as he squinted up at the towering presence of the captain.

The King’s eyes squinted further. “What’s this one tied for?” he asked the crew of Iris. Shoyou knew it was the Iris crew he’d asked, for those were the only people abroad who could answer such a question, as loaded as it was coming from the king.

Shoyou dumbly noted the clean way in which he spoke, the perfection dragged through his every syllable. He spoke with an accent, but not one Shoyou ha ever heard a pirate speak in. He spoke like someone from the capital, or actual royalty. He wasn’t sure what was part of his image, and what was part of him anymore.

“F-for disrespect to my men, aye?” the Iris captain stuttered out.

The king didn’t spare him so much as another glance as he straightened his back and spoke, “Free him and bring him aboard my girl. Raid the rest of their hold. Leave nothing for them.” He rose a hand to the handle of his sword, sticking out from the holder at his hip. A nimble, speck-less hand trailed circles over its tip as he eyed Shoyou from top to bottom and back up. “Who are you?” he asked.

Shoyou shuddered. “Hinata. Hinata Shoyou, sir,” he whispered, glancing at the menacing figure before him from below rows of lashes.

“Hinata,” the captain muttered, “Why the hell are you tied up here?” he asked.

He was taken aback for a moment. How could the captain possibly know that Shoyou wasn’t a part of the crew on Iris? Or did he know? Was this a test? A bluff?

“They don’t like my hair much, I believe,” he settled on and prayed to whatever deity was listening that it wouldn’t cost him his life, or an eye.

To his surprise the pirate smirked. It was there for a second and then gone just as quickly, but Shoyou had seen it. He was certain it wasn’t merely the heat of the sun that was speaking. The Black King had smirked at him, and it hadn’t been in ill intent.

As he turned to walk back onto his ship, Shoyou stared at his retreating figure. Two of his men came forward to unfasten the rope around his wrists.

Perhaps his mission hadn’t been a failure after all. Perhaps this was the start of something more, he thought, as he nervously climbed the ladder of _Black Crow_ , and glanced down to watch the sun-bleached deck of _Iris_ shrink before the Crow’s might.

  
  


༺═──────────────═༻

  
  


_“I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”_

  
_― Anais Nin_

  
  


༺═──────────────═༻

**Author's Note:**

> This has been a story I've wanted to write for a long time. I hope you liked the prologue of it, and I hope you'll enjoy the rest just as much. 
> 
> If you like what I do, consider buying me a coffee at: https://ko-fi.com/monanik
> 
> Come yell at me on twitter @MONANIK2 ! I also post art. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting  
> xoxo


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